Tomasz "Tomek" Adamek (; born 1 December 1976) is a Polish former professional boxer who competed from 1999 to 2018. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the WBC light heavyweight title from 2005 to 2007, and the IBF and The Ring magazine cruiserweight titles from 2008 to 2009. He also held the IBO cruiserweight title in 2007, and challenged once for the WBC heavyweight title in 2011. BoxRec ranks Adamek as the third greatest Polish boxer of all time, pound for pound. He is the first Polish boxer to win The Ring title.
Early life Adamek was born in Żywiec, Poland, as of 2012 he resided in Kearny, New Jersey. In 2013, he became a resident of Jersey City where he also trained and fought out of.Idec, Keith. "Tomasz Adamek impressive in victory", The Record (Bergen County), March 25, 2012, backed up by the Internet Archive as of March 28, 2012. Accessed January 31, 2018. "Tomasz Adamek methodically made a successful comeback Saturday night from his lopsided loss to Vitali Klitschko.... Adamek, a native of Poland who resides in Kearny, improved to 45–2."
Professional career
Adamek made his professional boxing debut on 13 March 1999 in Manchester, England against Israel Khumalo. He won by TKO in the first round.
Light-heavyweight WBC light-heavyweight champion Adamek won the vacant WBC light-heavyweight title defeating Paul "Firepower" Briggs by majority decision on 21 May 2005. The fight was described by some as one of the most brutal in recent memory, as Briggs suffered a large cut above his left eye early in the fight and Adamek bled profusely from his nose for much of the fight as well. Adamek tended to be the aggressor and won the fight.
On 15 October 2005, he defended his title against German boxer Thomas Ulrich by knockout in Round 6.
He then defended his title in a rematch with Paul Briggs in 2006, again winning by majority decision. After the fight Jim Lampley said that Adamek vs Briggs I and II was the best combined 24 rounds he has ever seen.
Adamek vs. Dawson Undefeated Adamek with 31–0 (21 KO) lost his first fight by unanimous decision to Chad Dawson on 3 February 2007. During that fight, Adamek was knocked down in the seventh round; this was only the second time in his career he has been knocked down (upon slow-motion replay, Adamek was shown to have tripped on Dawson's foot after the body shot). Adamek, well behind on points, provided some drama by suddenly dropping Dawson in the 10th round but Dawson fended off the onslaught that followed, and won a clear-cut points decision. Immediately following the loss to Dawson, Adamek decided to move up in the cruiserweight division.
Cruiserweight After losing to Dawson, Adamek moved up to cruiserweight to beat Luis Andres Pineda by technical knockout in round seven. He defeated Josip Jalusic on 29 December 2007 in Germany.
Adamek vs. Bell On 19 April 2008, in Poland, Adamek fought former undisputed cruiserweight champion O'Neil Bell in an IBF Cruiserweight title eliminator. Adamek floored Bell in round one and had good success by outboxing Bell. Bell opted not to come out for round eight, citing that he felt dizzy and ill.
IBF and lineal cruiserweight champion In December 2008 he fought the then reigning champion Steve Cunningham at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Knocking a game Cunningham down three times, he won the IBF and vacant lineal cruiserweight titles in a bout many thought was the fight of the year.
Adamek successfully defended his title against Johnathon Banks on 27 February 2009, at the Prudential Center in Newark. He won with a brutal TKO in the 8th Round. He then went on to defeat Bobby Gunn before a large crowd at the Prudential Center on 11 July 2009, with the referee stopping the bout at the ring physician's advice between rounds four and five.
He vacated the IBF title on 18 October 2009, choosing to move up to the heavyweight division.
Heavyweight On 24 October 2009 in Łódź, Poland, Adamek defeated Andrew Golota by TKO in the fifth round to win the IBF "International" Heavyweight Title. Then, on 6 February 2010 in Newark's Prudential Center he defeated Jason Estrada by unanimous decision after 12 rounds.
Adamek (40–1; 27 KO) then took on fellow heavyweight contender Chris Arreola (28–1; 25 KO) on 24 April 2010, at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California. The bout was televised as part of Boxing After Dark. The Polish fighter won a twelve-round majority decision, with the scores of 114–114, 115–113, and 117–111. A day before the bout, Arreola weighed 250½ pounds, while Adamek was 217.
In 2010 he was the first Polish winner of the "Muhammad Ali Athlete Award" at the Giant Awards diner in Chicago.
Adamek defeated veteran American Michael Grant by unanimous decision on 21 August 2010. In his first fight of 2011, Adamek defeated Irishman Kevin McBride by a wide unanimous decision.
Adamek vs. Vitali Klitschko
On 10 September 2011 Adamek faced the WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko in Poland, losing by TKO in the 10th round, in the first ever PPV fight in Polish TV history. The referee stopped the bout after Adamek received punishing blows and was ruled out, as he was no longer able to defend himself.
Post-Klitschko fights
Adamek returned on 24 March 2012, after signing a contract with Main Events, defeating Nagy Aguilera by unanimous decision. He then agreed to face former heavyweight contender Eddie Chambers. Both Adamek and Chambers were praised for taking the fight with no world title nor mandatory position on the line. Coming into the fight, Adamek was ranked No.3 heavyweight contender by The Ring, while Chambers, having had only one fight in two years and three months, was unranked by the publication. The fight was the main event of the Fight Night card on NBC Sports. In the opening rounds, both fighters were trading shots, with Chambers landing the most meaningful punches. During the first round, Chambers torn his bicep in the left arm, and often switched between orthodox and southpaw stances throughout the rest of the fight, throwing shots almost exclusively with the right hand, mostly connecting with overhand punches. Adamek was more active since round 3, frequently switching up from counterpuncher to aggressor. The bout lasted full twelve rounds, with Adamek being declared the winner by unanimous decision with scores 116–112 (twice) and 119–109. According to CompuBox, 1,381 punches were thrown, with Chambers landing 152 punches out of 462 thrown (32.9% accuracy), while Adamek landed 134 punches out of 919 (14.6%).
Adamek defeated Travis Walker on 8 September 2012 via fifth-round technical knockout at 1:51 due to a stoppage by the referee.
Adamek defeated Steve Cunningham in a very close and somewhat controversial split decision on 22 December 2012. Initially, the result was a draw, but after noticing a mathematical miscalculation in the judges scorecards, Adamek was declared the winner. On 15 March 2014 Adamek was defeated by Vyacheslav Glazkov by unanimous decision after 12 rounds, losing his IBF North American heavyweight title.
Adamek vs Haumono On June 24, 2017, Adamek defeated Solomon Haumono via unanimous decision, 100–90, 99–91 and 99–91 on the scorecards.
Adamek vs. Kassi On November 18, 2017, Adamek fought and defeated Fred Kassi via unanimous decision, 97–93, 96–94 and 96–94 on the scorecards.
Adamek vs. Miller On October 6, 2018, Adamek fought heavyweight contender Jarell Miller. Miller was ranked #2 by the WBA and #5 by the WBO at the time. Miller dropped Adamek twice in the second round. After the second knockdown the referee stopped the fight despite a disoriented Adamek making it to his feet.
Adamek vs. Khalidov
On February 24, 2024, in the main event of XTB KSW Epic: Chalidow vs Adamek, he fought Mamed Khalidov in a boxing match in the cage. The fight was contracted for 6 rounds with Adamek's purse being 250,000 USD. He won after the third round after Khalidov suffered a hand injury in the round.
Professional boxing record
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes59Loss53–6Jarrell MillerKO2 (12), 6 Oct 201858Win53–5Joey AbellTKO7 (10), 21 Apr 201857Win52–5Fred KassiUD1018 Nov 201756Win51–5Solomon HaumonoUD1024 Jun 201755Loss50–5Éric MolinaKO10 (12), 2 Apr 201654Win50–4Przemysław SaletaRTD5 (10), 26 Sep 201553Loss49–4Artur SzpilkaUD108 Nov 201452Loss49–3Vyacheslav GlazkovUD1215 Mar 201451Win49–2Dominick GuinnUD103 Aug 201350Win48–2Steve CunninghamSD1222 Dec 201249Win47–2Travis WalkerTKO5 (12), 8 Sep 201248Win46–2Eddie ChambersUD1216 Jun 201247Win45–2Nagy AguileraUD1024 Mar 201246Loss44–2Vitali KlitschkoTKO10 (12), 10 Sep 201145Win44–1Kevin McBrideUD129 Apr 201144Win43–1Vinny MaddaloneTKO5 (12), 9 Dec 201043Win42–1Michael GrantUD1221 Aug 201042Win41–1Chris ArreolaMD1224 Apr 201041Win40–1Jason EstradaUD126 Feb 201040Win39–1Andrew GolotaTKO5 (12), 24 Oct 200939Win38–1Bobby GunnRTD4 (12), 11 Jul 200938Win37–1Johnathon BanksTKO8 (12), 27 Feb 200937Win36–1Steve Cunningham1211 Dec 200836Win35–1Gary GomezRTD7 (10), 11 Jul 200835Win34–1O'Neil BellTKO8 (12)19 Apr 200834Win33–1Josip JalusicUD829 Dec 200733Win32–1Luis Andres PinedaTKO7 (12)9 Jun 200732Loss31–1Chad DawsonUD123 Feb 200731Win31–0Paul BriggsMD127 Oct 200630Win30–0Thomas UlrichKO6 (12), 15 Oct 200529Win29–0Paul Briggs1221 May 200528Win28–0Ismail AbdoulUD810 Sep 200427Win27–0Dzhabrail DzhabrailovKO5 (12), 17 Apr 200426Win26–0Olivier BeardTKO3 (10)20 Dec 200325Win25–0Ed DaltonKO2 (12), 4 Oct 200324Win24–0Roberto CoelhoUD830 Aug 200323Win23–0Zoltán BéresUD66 Apr 200322Win22–0Andrei KarstenTKO2 (6)15 Feb 200321Win21–0Varuzhan Davtyan4 (6), 14 Dec 200220Win20–0Laverne ClarkTKO3 (12)18 Oct 200219Win19–0Mihai IftodeUD827 Jul 200218Win18–0Siarhei KaranevichUD1024 May 200217Win17–0Willie McDonaldTKO3 (6)6 Apr 200216Win16–0Dzianis SalomkaTKO5 (6)23 Feb 2002OSiR, 15Win15–0Ruslan HladkykhUD629 Dec 200114Win14–0Zdravko KosticUD1010 Nov 200113Win13–0Timofey MaklakovTKO3 (10)11 Aug 200112Win12–0Ion Voica1 (6)18 May 200111Win11–0Rudi Lupo102 Mar 200110Win10–0Nino CiriloTKO3 (8)3 Nov 20009Win9–0Stanislav SchreiberTKO3 (10)14 Oct 20008Win8–0Glenn OdemTKO4 (6)10 Jun 20007Win7–0Terry FordTKO3 (6)25 Mar 20006Win6–0Mark Lee DawsonTKO3 (6)21 Feb 20005Win5–0Melvin WynnTKO3 (6)10 Dec 19994Win4–0Kevin Whaley-ElTKO4 (6)22 Oct 19993Win3–0Milko StoikovTKO3 (6)26 Jun 19992Win2–0Smokey EnisonTKO2 (4), 29 Apr 19991Win1–0Israel Khumalo1 (4), 13 Mar 1999
Exhibition boxing record
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes4Loss3–1Roberto Soldić2 (8), 6 Sep 20253Win3–0Kasjusz ŻycińskiUD431 Aug 20242Win2–0Patryk Bandurski318 May 20241Win1–0Mamed Khalidov3 (6), 24 Feb 2024
Viewership
Poland
Date Fight Viewership () Network Source(s)Tomasz Adamek vs. Andrew GolotaPolsat Total viewership 8,190,000 – 13,000,000
United States
Date Fight Viewership Network Source(s)Tomasz Adamek vs. Steve CunninghamNBC Sports Total viewership 3,200,000
Pay-per-view bouts
DateFightPay-per-view buysCountryNetworkSource(s)Vitali Klitschko vs. Tomasz AdamekPolandCyfra+ PPVTomasz Adamek vs. Artur SzpilkaPolandCyfrowy Polsat PPV Total sales 300,000
See also List of light heavyweight boxing champions List of cruiserweight boxing champions List of WBC world champions List of IBF world champions List of The Ring world champions
References
External links
Interview with Tomasz Adamek at BoxingInsider Tomasz Adamek profile at Cyber Boxing Zone Tomasz Adamek - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings at Box.Live